RAF Welford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RAF Welford is a UK Royal Air Force station which is presently occupied by the United States Air Force. It is one of the largest ammunition compounds for the United States Air Force in Western Europe for heavy munitions. From about 1954 the site was rail connected via the Lambourn Valley Railway to the main line at Newbury. Rail traffic lasted into the 1970s, bombs being transported in open wooden-bodied wagons sheeted with tarpaulins.

Its location on the Berkshire / Wiltshire border can be identified today by an access road enigmatically signposted "Works Unit Only", leading to the station from the eastbound M4 motorway to the west of the A34 junction with the M4. There is no access from the westbound motorway, so traffic leaving the station for the west must first travel east to the A34 junction before heading west. It is usually at its busiest when the US government deploys bombers to a forward air station at RAF Fairford.

[edit] See also

• United States Air Forces in Europe
• United States Air Force in the United Kingdom

[edit] External links

• RAF Welford in Photos

	United States Air Force in the United Kingdom v • d • e
ACTIVE BASES:	RAF Alconbury (USAFE) • RAF Croughton (USAFE) • RAF Fairford (USAFE) • RAF Feltwell (USAFE) • RAF Lakenheath (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Menwith Hill (USAFE) • RAF Mildenhall (SAC/USAFE/AMC) • RAF Molesworth (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Upwood (USAFE) • RAF Welford (USAFE)
INACTIVE BASES:	RAF Bentwaters (USAFE) • RAF Burtonwood (AFMC) • RAF Chelveston (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Chicksands (USAFSS) • RAF Greenham Common (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Manston (USAFE) • RAF Sculthorpe (SAC) • RAF Shepherds Grove (USAFE) • RAF Upper Heyford (SAC/USAFE) • RAF Wethersfield (USAFE) • RAF Woodbridge (USAFE)
ACTIVE ORGANIZATIONS:	United States Air Forces in Europe • HQ Air Command Europe • 48th Fighter Wing (USAFE) • 100th Air Refueling Wing (USAFE) • 501st Combat Support Wing (USAFE)
PAST ORGANIZATIONS:	Third Air Force • Sixteenth Air Force